Brazilian Judge Lifts WhatsApp Ban
May 03 2016 - 3:10PM
Dow Jones News
RIO DE JANEIRO—A Brazilian judge overturned a ban on Facebook
Inc.'s WhatsApp in Brazil on Tuesday, restoring service to the
millions of Brazilians who use the messaging app about 24 hours
after a different judge blocked it.
The ban, which began Monday afternoon, was the latest in a
series of clashes between the technology giant and the Brazilian
government.
A judge in the state of Sergipe on Monday ordered the service to
be shut down for 72 hours for the company's refusal to cooperate in
a criminal investigation. WhatsApp says it doesn't store users'
messages and thus cannot share what it doesn't have.
On Tuesday, a different judge in a Sergipe appeals court
overturned the ban, and service was restored Tuesday afternoon.
Brazilian judges, who wield considerable power, have taken to
shutting down the popular messaging app when disputes of this
nature arise.
In December, a different judge blocked WhatsApp throughout the
country similar reasons. That ban was reversed after less than 48
hours.
In March, Brazilian federal police briefly detained the vice
president of Facebook's Latin America operations, Diego Dzodan, for
not complying with police requests to access WhatsApp messages
linked to an organized-crime and drug-trafficking case.
Monday's order was part of the same process that resulted in the
executive's arrest.
Roughly half of Brazil's 200 million people use Whatsapp's free
text and voice-messaging functions regularly, according to
Facebook.
Write to Will Connors at william.connors@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 03, 2016 15:55 ET (19:55 GMT)
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